On the Run
by 5starWill
Summary: He was just a regular teenage boy. He went on journeys, had a girlfriend, and all in all, he lived a decent life. That was, up until the murder of his mother. That was when he grew up, and faced the harsh reality of the world.
1. Act I: Survive

Running. That was all the boy could think of.

_Crackle..._

The shots were getting closer.

_Pop..._

His heart was racing. He knew that the next round could hit him.

**_Snap!_**

Finally, his luck ran out. A terribly hot feeling ran through his chest. He knew the end was here.

* * *

_2 Years Earlier..._

"I bet I'll beat you up there!" a boy yelled.

"Oh, no you don't!" a girl replied. They were in an intense race to get to the top of the hill to the boy's house. Eventually, the girl started to lose her breath.

"Okay, Ash, you win!" the girl finally said.

"Oh come on, Serena! Just a little more!" the boy clearly had enough energy to run a marathon, and the cool air on this April afternoon definitely helped.

Finally, Serena stood up and followed Ash into his house. When they opened the door and walked in, Serena took Ash's hands into her own. They both looked at each other and smiled for a few long seconds.

"Pika Pi?" Pikachu said to Ash. He found situations like this awkward for him, especially when Ash and Serena completely forgot about other people and Pokemon.

"Oh, um right. Sorry 'bout that, buddy. Mom! We're home!" Ash yelled, as he started to walk for the kitchen. Serena sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

When Ash walked into the kitchen, he couldn't believe his eyes. He dropped to his knees, making a loud _thump_, and causing Serena to come and investigate.

"Ash? Is there something wro-" she paused when she saw what Ash was looking at. On the floor lay Delia Ketchum, completely stiff and lifeless.

* * *

_Present Day..._

The boy fell next to a tree, exhausted. However, he wasn't about to go out without a fair fight. He pulled his pistol from it's holster. Two men ran through the forest, both wearing olive-green military uniforms. The boy fired a bullet, which went through the first man's head. Two more rounds went through the second man's chest. They both fell to the ground.

This continued for what seemed like hours to the boy. Eventually, he ran out of ammo, so he laid down his weapon. He was surrounded by soldiers. He had no ammo. Help wasn't coming, and he was bleeding out. He closed his eyes.

* * *

_2 Years Earlier.._

Two weeks after finding his mother dead on the floor, Ash and Serena received a strange letter in the mail while staying in a hotel. (You know, staying in a place where someone was murdered is just creepy.) How someone knew their room number, they weren't sure. It wasn't signed, and there was no return address. When Ash opened the letter, he saw only two sentences.

"'Show up at the Petalburg docks, unarmed and alone. That means no Pokemon, Ash Ketchum.' What do you think it means, Serena?"

"I don't think it's a coincidence that just 2 weeks after, well, I think you know, that you would receive a letter saying to come to Petalburg." replied Serena.

"Are you saying that there's someone out there wanting to avenge my mother's death?" said Ash.

"It's certainly a possibility."

"Do you think I should go?" asked Ash.

"I think it's up to you, Ash."

* * *

_Present Day... _

As the boy closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable, he started to hear the shouts of the soldiers getting closer. But the shouts weren't shouts of victory over their kill, but instead panic.

"Contact! To the ri-" One of the soldiers was cut off as fully-automatic gunfire broke out. The boy opened his eyes.

He couldn't believe what he saw. A what looked like to be a platoon of soldiers ran through the forest, shooting at the enemy. But these weren't your regular government-issue soldiers. Instead, many of them wore balaclavas or shamags to conceal their identities. They wore mis-matched clothing and uniforms, and many carried hunting rifles instead of military style rifles.

The boy lay in shock as the lead soldier ran up to him.

"He's hurt! Get him some bandages! Do we have any morphine?" He then took off his balaclava to reveal his identity, and looked down at the boy. "Paul?"

* * *

_2 Years Earlier..._

After his discussion with Serena, Ash packed up and set sail on the next fairy to Petalburg City in the Hoenn Region. When he arrived, he looked around for a mysterious man, possibly wearing all black with sunglasses, a mic in his ear, and a sub-machine gun at the ready. Instead, he quite literally bumped into a girl about his age in the crowd of people at the port.

"Ash?" the girl asked.

"May?" Ash replied.

"Ash, I've been looking all over for you! Come on!" Before Ash could reply, May grabbed Ash's wrist and made a run for the crowd.

"May, slow down!" was all Ash could manage in all of the chaos.

"We have to keep going! Come on!" May started running even faster. Eventually they stopped in the parking lot next to a black limousine.

"Well? Get in!" May opened the door and threw Ash in.

Inside, there were three men. The first one Ash saw sat in the back a man, dressed in a black tux, and had grey hair. The next two men were just what Ash had feared: men wearing black clothes with headsets. He saw one of them had a pistol holster with a handgun inside. Fortunately for Ash, they sat in the front seats where they couldn't reach him.

Ash sat down between May and the older man. "Would someone _please _tell me what's going on?"

"Ash, this is the mayor of Petalburg City." Said May.

"Oh. Well shoot." Said Ash in surprise.

"Mister Ketchum, we called you here because of your mother's recent passing. We think we may know who murdered her."

Ash let the words sink in for a second. "Are you saying that her murder was an assassination, and not just any robbery?" Ash tried to fight back tears.

_Man, he jumps to conclusions fast, _the mayor thought. "Yes. And you won't believe who we think the killer was." The mayor said.

"Suspense _really _isn't helping right now, sir." Ash said.

Finally, May spoke up. "Ash, we think the president himself ordered the assassination."

* * *

_Present Day..._

"Paul Allen, of all the ways you could have shown up, you just _had _to bring the whole army with you?" The leading soldier teased.

"Missed you too, Ash." Paul replied weakly. Two other men helped Paul to his feet, and after he was bandaged up and his wounds stopped bleeding, they walked him about 400 yards to a dirt road where a convoy of pickup trucks were parked. They loaded him into the bed of one, and started driving.

* * *

_2 Years Earlier..._

"Mister Ketchum, a rebellion is forming. Over five-hundred brave men and women are ready to stand by your side and help fight this war. All you have to do is-"

"I'm sorry, but I just learned that my mother was assassinated, and now I have to lead a small _army _against a rather large trained and professional military. Could you give me some time to think about my life instead of continuing shaping it in your own twisted ways and leaving me in the dust?"

The rest of the limo ride to the mayor's mansion was pretty pretty hectic. He had just seen his life unfold in front of him, and was expected to carry out a huge task of leading a revolution in the Republic of Kanto. What a day.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**Hey guys! I'm kicking off a brand new story on my page, and let me tell you, I've been waiting to do this for a while now. Let me know what you think by leaving a review! Hope you guys enjoyed, and thanks for all of your feedback and support! Peace!**

**-Will**


	2. Maxwell

_Present Day..._

"Well, Paul, how's life?" asked Ash. They were in a convoy headed back to Group West, one of the many camps of soldiers fighting against the government. Ash and Paul were in the back of the lead vehicle, a white pickup truck.

"Well considering the circumstances, not bad. How's your girlfriend?" asked Paul. He smirked when he said this.

Ash gave Paul a dirty look. "Don't want to talk about it." he mumbled.

They rode on in silence for another 5 minutes until Ash's radio came to life. "Nomad, this is Gateway. SITREP, over?" asked a feminine voice.

"Copy. We found the source of the shots. Found a survivor. Wounded, but condition is stable. Over." replied Ash. He had changed a lot since Paul last saw him, a little over 2 years ago. For starters, he was more than in shape. He wasn't the scrawny teen he was before. He carried a gun, and wore darker green clothes. He had a look of seriousness, and wasn't afraid to kill to defend his brothers in arms.

"Roger. Be advised, we just got word of at least 2 fast-movers headed in your direction, ETA 60 seconds."

"Crap. Thanks for the heads up. Know their intentions, over?" Ash asked, looking at Paul with a face of worry.

"Negative. Prepare for the worst. Gateway, out." The radio shut off.

"Well, this is just great." Ash said to Paul. Paul recognized the voice over the radio, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Ash, can you clarify, just what are 'fast-movers'?" Paul was worried at this point.

"Jets. If they're what I think they are, were in for a fight." As if on cue, two jets flew over the convoy. The sounds of their engines were deafening.

What was scary about aircraft was their variety in rolls. Some were used as air-supremacy fighters. Others were SEAD, meant to find and destroy anti-aircraft guns. There were also some just meant for destroying ground targets, which were every infantrymen's worst nightmare. Luckily for Ash and Paul, the jets flew past the convoy without giving them any trouble.

* * *

_Viridian Forest, 2 Years Ago..._

"Come on, Serena! We've got to keep moving!' Ash ran through Vridian Forest, holding Serena's hand. Running with them were two men, both in guerrilla-warfare style clothes, one with a bolt-action hunting rifle, and the other with a military-style assault rifle.

The four were being chased. Behind them were at least a platoon of soldiers, obviously sent to kill them. They were running and shooting, rounds hitting trees and the ground in front of them.

Eventually, Ash felt a dead-weight on his arm, and his hand disconnect from Serena's. He looked behind him

Serena had been shot.

* * *

_Present Day, Camp Maxwell, Home of Group West..._

Ash and Paul, along with Ash's other squad-mates disembarked from their vehicles.

"Well, Paul, welcome to Camp Maxwell." said Ash. Camp Maxwell had been Ash's home for more than a year now. Ash and the rest of the fighters walked into the entrance of the camp, along with Paul, who sort of half-limped.

Camp Maxwell wasn't very impressive. Surrounding the camp were several machine-gun emplacements and sandbagged fortifications. The camp was strategically placed on a hill in Viridian Forest, between Pallet and Viridian City. The walls of the camp were made of a greenish colored metal, probably steel. Inside, there were eight buildings and four watchtowers made of the same material. In the back of the camp, there were several tents, which were the homes of the officers and higher ranked soldiers in the camp. The regular soldiers often slept at their posts or would take turns sleeping in one of the large, metal, unventilated buildings.

Paul followed Ash into the first green structure on their right. They walked over to the back-left corner, where five people sat at a table, two using a map, and the other three were operating a radio.

* * *

_2 Years Ago..._

"SERENA! NO!" Ash yelled in horror, as the other two men dragged him away from Serena's body.

"You have to let her go! She's not coming back!" said one of the men.

The next 30 minutes were a blur to Ash. The three ran to a camp. When they arrived there, Ash saw the name that was on a sign near the entrance. At this point, his crying had calmed down, so he was able to make out what it said: Camp Aegis.

When they got to the camp, it's defenses started shooting. Not at them, but at the men chasing them. When Ash turned around, he saw the bodies of at least 15 men.

* * *

_Present Day... _

"Dawn?" Paul said, when himself and Ash approached the radio station. Everyone remained hard at work, and seemed to ignore the men's presence. All except for one particular woman.

Dawn took off her headphones and looked at the two, stood up, and smiled. She then immediately hugged Paul. Paul was certainly surprised by this act of affection, as he continued to blush. Ash just chuckled.

"S-so you were the one on the radio with Ash?" Paul stated, still holding Dawn in his arms.

"Yup! That was me." said Dawn, as she released Paul.

"I'll just leave you two to catch up." Ash said as he left the structure. There was still a war going on, and he played a vital role. He got out his radio.

"Sapphire, Nomad. Meet me at Tower 3, over."

"Ugh, would you stop it, Max? Solid copy, Nomad. I'm on my way." Replied a stressed out woman. Ash headed to the tower in the back left of the camp. When he got there, he was met by a woman that was about his age.

"Hey, Ash. What's up?"

"Hi, May. Did you get those papers I needed?" Replied Ash.

"Yup! And I got our names into their computers, as well as government ID's. Anything else you needed?" asked May.

"Actually, there is. I need a few pictures taken. Military issue ID's aren't accepted unless they have photos on them." said Ash.

"Um, okay... But who do I take a picture of?" May asked curiously.

"Yourself, Brenden, Paul, and me. Get you three first, and me last. Then I need you to get those pictures into those documents. And make the sharp. This mission is important." Ash stated. Those ID's were going to be for something big. They were likely going to attack a government facility, unnoticed.

* * *

**Author's Note: **'Sup, guys! Sorry I haven't updated this story in so long. I've just been so busy lately, and frankly I didn't get all that many views on it. However, I'm not just about to waste all of my hours of thinking what to do with this story. So, please leave a review and tell me how I did. It means so much to me when I get an e-mail saying that I got a favorite or review. So, hope you guys enjoyed! See ya next chapter!

-Will


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